Shelf support



K. C. WELCH SHELF SUPPORT July 16, 1940.

Filed May 51, 1939 Aibmz Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED amt-.5

PATENT OFFICE SHELFSUPPO-RT Kenneth C. Welch, Grand Rapids, Mich.,' assignor to GrandRapids Store Equipment 00., Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application May 31, 1939, Serial No. 276,655

This invention relates to shelving and particularly to supports therefor. It is a primary object and purpose of the present invention to provide a very simple, practical and usefulshelving i construction and support for adjustably carryof cases or frames, whereby the shelves may be readily adjusted to a large number of positions and held in any position to which adjusted. It is a further object of the. invention to provide a shelving support construction which may also be used to look a shelf in a position to which adjusted, and prevent its upward movement away from the supporting elements beneath, and, preferably, the locking means will be identical with the shelf carrying and supporting means.

, Many other objects and purposes than those statedwill be apparent as an understanding of the invention is had from the following description, taken in connection with the-accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section illustrating the shelving support of my inventionused with a horizontally located shelf, and also showing the manner in which the shelf, is held against vertical, movement. 2 is a fragmentary verticalsection of one end of a shelf, and the vertical supporting memberwhich carries it, the shelf supportingmeans being shown in elevation. I

Fig. 3 is a hOIiZOIItaLSBCtiOH through one end of the shelving structure, showing a shelf support inplan., 1

. I Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section through the channel member which is mounted upon a vertical end of the shelving structure, and upon which the immediate shelf supporting elements are adjustably carried, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the shelf carrying brackets, which also may be used above a shelf to maintain it against upward movement.

Likereference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawing.

In shelving two spaced apart vertical ends I are provided which may be connected at their lower ends by a base and at their upper ends by a top cornice. At the inner sides of the end members I, and at at least two points between the front and rear edges of the ends 1, a sheet metal U-shaped channel is inserted in a vertical groove made for its reception, the channel being bent into form from a single plate of sheet metal, and having sides 2 connected by a bend at 3. At the outer edges of the sides 2, flanges 4 may be turned outwardly away from each other. From 6 Claims. (01. 248- 243) the opposite sides of the metal channel member described, tongues 5 and 6 are struck in; wardly as best shown in Fig. 4, the tongues 5 ex tending upwardly and inwardly at an angle to the vertical, and the tongues 6 from the opposite side extending downwardly and inwardly as shown, whereby said tongues overlap each other in spaced pairs, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The shelving brackets which are used are made from a single plate of sheet metal into the form shown in Fig. 5. A horizontal ledge 1 is provided, from which is an. integral downwardly extending section 8. At one edge of the section 8 a section 9 is turned at right angles, being cut away at its upper portion so as not to ,reach to the upper edges of said section 8, and at its free upper corner the section 9 is continued in a vertical As s'helfbracket of the character described may be inserted, as indicated in Fig. 2, into the space between the sides 2 of the channel, the finger l extending vertically back of two of the overlapping tongues and 6, whilethe lower edge of the section 9 bears upon the upper edge of the next lowermost tongue 5,"as shown in Fig.

4.- The section '8 lies flat against theinner side Y e of the end l of the shelving frame, with the ledge I extendinghorizontally therefrom at right an gles to and away from the inner side of said end member I. ,With a plurality of the bracket members carried'bythe opposite end members I of the frame, having their ledges-I all in the same horizontal plane, a shelf ll (Fig.2) may be placed thereuponand be held and supported in a horizontal position; If desired like bracket members may be hooked into the. channel members in inverted position spaced upwardly from the supporting bracket. members a distance equal to the thickness of the shelf and the shelf inserted between the upper and lower brackets as illustrated in Fig. 2, which will prevent the shelf from being inadvertently raised out of position.

With this construction also, by properly spacing the tongues 5 and 6, a shelf such as ll of wood and of the normal standard thickness of a wooden shelf may be supported and locked in place as described, while a narrower shelf l2 of glass, as in Fig. 1, may be supported upon the same lower brackets, but because of its reduced thickness, the upper brackets used as locking means will be connected with and between lower spaced tongues 5 and 6. This works out satisfactorily with wood and glass shelves of regular standard thicknesses and with the tongues 5 and 6 dimensionally spaced in accordance with the thickness of the glass shelf h is approximately one-half the thickness of a shelf of wood. The construction described is simple, yet very practical and useful In use it has proven very satisfactory.

It isto be understood that the invention is not restricted in use to supporting shelves. The sameconstruction without change may be applied to cases or. cabinets to serve as adjustable .drawer supports, the drawers resting upon and moving over the ledges l. of use which will occur to those skilled in the art, and which have occurred to me, therefore, the invention is to be considered as comprehending all forms of structure and all uses of the structure such as come within the. scope of .the appended claims which define the invention.

I claim:

1. A construction of the class described comprising, a vertically positioned supporting member of channel form having vertical spaced apart sides, one of said sides having tongues struck therefrom upwardly and inwardly at an angle to the vertical, and "the other of said sides having tongues struck therefrom downwardly and inwardly, whereby the tongues substantially engage against each other. at adjacent sides, said tongues being spacedvertically in the length of the support, and a bracket of fiat metal having a sectionto pass between two adjacent pairs of tongues, said section resting at its 'lower edge upon a lower tongue and having at its upper inner portion an upwardly extending finger located behind the upper tongues, and said bracket including a horizontal ledge extending away from the support, as specified.

' 2. In a'construction of the class described, a support having spaced apart parallel vertical sides, the depth of the spacebetween said sides being greatly in excess of the distance between said sides, vertically spaced supportingmeans lo cated horizontally between the sides of the'support, a shelf supporting bracket having a flat vertical portion adapted'to rest at its lower edge on one of said supporting means and to have a hooked connection at its upperportion with the next adjacent upper means, said bracket having a substantially horizontal ledge' 'extendingaway from the support, and a second like bracket located in an inverted positionover and spaced from the first bracket, located between and connected withttwo of said spaced supporting means above the first bracket, whereby its horizontal ledge will be located over and parallel to the horizontal ledge of the first bracket, between which ledges the edge portion of a shelf is adapted to be placed, as specified.

3. A shelf bracket comprising, a vertical sec- There are various other places tion having at its free upper corner an upwardly extending finger, a second vertical section integrally connected with the first section at the edge thereof opposite said finger and located in a plane substantially at right angles to the first section, and a substantially horizontal ledge integrally connected with and extending at right substantially vertical plane and integrally connected at one edge to the opposite edge of the firstsection and extending above the first section for a short distance, and then bent into a substantially horizontal ledge which extends away from said finger, as specified.

5. A construction of the class described comprising, a vertical member having a vertical slot therein at its inner side, the depth of which is greatly in excess of its width, a verticalnarrow channel structure having spaced apart sides housed in said slot and presenting an elongated vertical narrow opening from one end thereof to the other, vertically spaced supporting devices located between the sides of said channel and disposed inwardly a substantial distance from the outer opening thereof, and a bracket having a vertical fiat metal portion extending into said channel between'its sides cooperatively associated with said supporting devices, as specified.

6. A construction of the class'de'scribed comprising, .a vertical member having a vertical slot therein at its inner side extending partially through said member toward its outer side, the depth of the slot being greatly inexcess of its width, a vertical support having parallel spaced apart fiat metal sides located in said slot, the sides of said s pport lying against o'pposite'sides of" said slot and being spaced a short distance apart, supporting devices extending between and carried by said sides of the support and located inwardly a substantialdistance from the outer opening between said sides of the support, and a bracket having a vertical fiat metal portion extending between the sides of the support coop eratively associated with selected spaced supporting devices to thereby detachably carry said bracket, as specified. r KENNETH- C. WELCH." 

